NXP Sells Stake in China Foundry ASMC

SAN FRANCISCO—NXP Semiconductors NV said Wednesday (April 19) it sold its 27 percent remaining stake in Advanced Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp. Ltd. (ASMC), a chip foundry based in China.

ASMC began as a joint venture in the late 1980s between the Chinese Government and Royal Philips Electronics NV , the Dutch giant that eventually spun off NXP.

ASMC, originally known as Philips Semiconductor Shanghai, exclusively made chips for Philips for years. It has two 8-inch wafer fabs in Shanghai.

NXP (Eindhovern, the Netherlands) said it sold its 421.45 million shares, representing 27.47 percent ownership of ASMIC, for $53.7 million to Shanghai Pudong Science and Technology Investment Co. Ltd.

NXP is in the process of being acquired by U.S. chip giant Qualcomm Inc., a fabless company that relies solely on foundries for manufacturing of its chips. The divestiture of NXP's stake in ASMC may have been a step toward closing the deal or achieving regulatory compliance in China.

Qualcomm said recently that the deal's waiting period under the Hart-Scott-Rodino act had expired without any antitrust objections being raised by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission. The Qualcomm-NXP deal is expected to close by the end of this year.